November 7, 2013

Unwieldy and exasperating, but not without a certain pushy, ingratiating charm, Xue Xiaolu’s smash hit “Finding Mr. Right” turns out to have a bit more on its mind than its generic romantic-comedy title would suggest. Over the course of its leisurely 122-minute running time, this slick, saucy tale of a spoiled mainland princess who travels to Seattle to give birth manages to address the pressures of pregnancy and parenthood, the challenges of life in a foreign country, the temptations of material wealth, and the wan but enduring charms of “Sleepless in Seattle.” The whole thing might collapse were it not for Tang Wei’s irrepressible lead performance, redeeming an initially unbearable character through the sheer, unbridled force of her personality.

Having grossed a massive $85 million on home turf since March, the film will be much more of a niche offering Stateside when it bows Nov. 8. Nevertheless, as one of the year’s big Chinese B.O. success stories, it plants Xue firmly on the map as a mainland filmmaking talent to be reckoned with (she made a prominent 2010 debut with the Jet Li starrer “Ocean Heaven”). For all the clumsy moves and openly derivative story elements she trades in here, the story has a cultural specificity that gives it a unique feel and a small measure of dramatic heft, and its jumbled parts are stitched together with a brazen confidence that feels of a piece with the winning spirit of its protagonist.

That would be Wen Jiajia (Tang), the mistress of a wealthy Beijing tycoon; he’s sent her on an all-expenses-paid trip to Seattle, where she plans to give birth to their love-child away from prying eyes back at home. The very picture of bratty self-entitlement, Jiajia is an intensely dislikable piece of work. Upon her arrival in the chilly Washington suburbs, she immediately begins heaping abuse on her patient driver, Frank (Wu Xiubo), who takes her to a home maternity center run by the kindly Mrs. Huang (Elaine Jin). There, Jiajia wastes no time in making a nuisance of herself, barking outrageously inconsiderate orders and throwing wads of cash around to ensure that they’re enforced.

As you’d expect, Jiajia’s comeuppance arrives right on schedule, just in time for the holidays. When her lover stands her up at Christmas and later cuts off her cash flow, she must learn the hard way that money isn’t everything while facing the prospect of raising her child alone. On hand to facilitate these lessons is Frank, a divorced dad who gave up a successful medical career in China to come to the U.S. With his quiet, tolerant demeanor and sad-sack goatee, he couldn’t seem a less likely match for the proud, vivacious Jiajia, which of course makes their eventual union even more of a foregone conclusion. (Naturally, she hits it off with Frank’s daughter, Julia, played at different ages by sisters Song Meihui and Song Meiman.)

As predictable as the outcome may be, Xue’s patchwork script is in no hurry to get to its “Sleepless in Seattle”-inspired romantic climax, the inevitable culmination of its endless visual and verbal references to that Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan perennial. But first, there are babies to be born, relationships to be reconciled, Western-pop-scored montages to be edited. There is no shortage of topical touches, acknowledging the rise of “birth tourism” among wealthy foreigners and critiquing the rampant consumerism of modern China. The film’s heart seems to be in the right place even at its most confused, as when it presents a warm, affirming portrait of a lesbian couple, then trots out a swishy gay stereotype a few beats later.

Against considerable odds, it’s Tang’s initially grating, ultimately winning performance that sustains this messy but endearing enterprise from start to finish. Sentenced to a five-year ban from Chinese productions in 2007 after her participation in Ang Lee’s racy “Lust, Caution,” the actress looks fully rejuvenated here, seizing into this material with such vigor and ferocity that you can almost see her delighting in her newfound freedom. She may not be a natural-born comedienne (the script gives her precious little to work with in that department), but her dramatic chops are considerable: Tang shrewdly treats Jiajia’s redemption as an extension rather than a reversal of her fighting spirit, her loneliness giving way as she thaws and thrives in her makeshift American community.

As Jiajia’s love interest and foil, Wu (best known for the Chinese TV series “Before the Dawn”) goes arguably too far in the opposite direction, coming across as stoic and recessive to a fault. Nevertheless, Frank’s fundamental decency more than shines through, and as the sole male character with any significant screen time, he doesn’t exactly face stiff competition for the titular honors.

Chan Chi-ying’s high-definition widescreen images have a sharpness of detail that makes up for the somewhat televisual framing and camera movement. The largely Vancouver-shot production has a fine feel for Pacific Northwest suburbia, contrasting with the shimmering urban panoramas of Beijing glimpsed in a few brief scenes. (The original Chinese title translates as “Beijing Meets Seattle.”) The score, however, never stops elbowing the viewer in the ribs, often swooping in to signal a dramatic shift before the plot point in question has fully registered.

February 25, 2013

Just as Meg Ryan juggled serendipity and sentimentality with the spiritual aid of the Leo McCarey weepie An Affair to Remember, Tang Wei (Lust, Caution, Late Autumn) draws inspiration from Sleepless In Seattle in the creatively titled Finding Mr. Right, finding Mr. Right while making her way via Seattle to the top of New York’s Empire State Building.

A spirited sophomore effort after her heavy-handed directorial debut (the Jet Li tearjerker Ocean Heaven), writer-director Xue Xiaolu’s Seattle- and New York-set romantic comedy is nothing you haven’t seen before – although it’s also pleasant enough to disarm you with its sweetness. The movie is scheduled for a late-March release in Hong Kong and mainland China.

In it, Tang plays Jiajia, a materialistic prima donna who is temporarily staying in Seattle – presumably because she’s a huge fan of the Nora Ephron movie – to give birth to the child of her rich, married lover in Beijing. When her plan to check into a maternity centre goes awry, however, she’s instead taken by her hired driver Frank (veteran TV actor Wu Xiubo, dutifully wooden) to a small home run by a friend of his, the Taiwanese caretaker Mrs Huang (Elaine Jin).

As her (off-screen) boyfriend continually fails to shrug off either his wife or the criminal investigations into his possibly shady business, the lonely Jiajia soon discovers the loving side of Frank, who was once a famous doctor in Beijing before moving to the US and being divorced by his more financially competent wife, an inconvenient truth that he’s been keeping from his young daughter and grieving silently ever since.

Directing from her own script, Xue has come up with a conventional yet surprisingly delightful rom-com, at once filled with authentically written supporting characters and some gently humorous sequences, including several that mischievously toy with Jiajia’s limited knowledge in English.

Amid the predictable story trajectory which sees the budding couple respectively recover from their unfortunate romantic past, readjust their focuses in life and finally meet up again for their purely coincidental romantic resolution at you-know-where, it’s Tang’s immense likeability in her alternately sassy and vulnerable role that holds it all together. Finding Mr. Right thrives on the effortless charisma of its lead actress.

After setting a new box office record with a total of 685 million yuan (US$ 107.1 million), the production side of the movie “Painted Skin 2″ held a celebration party yesterday in Shanghai [on a luxury cruise ship].

With an investment of over 160 million yuan (about US$26 million), the movie was originally set to be released during the National Day Holiday slot. According to Zhang, in order to set aside enough time for the 3D effect team, they had postponed the movie’s release to November.

Stephen Fung’s “Tai Chi 0″ will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival August 31. Angelababy and Eddie Peng will help to promote in Venice according to reports.

Martial arts flick “The Four” kicked out “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” to sit in the top spot with a surprisingly $11.13 million in its second week of release for a two-week total of $24.16 million. “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” ended its fourth week of release to number two of the boxoffice chart, adding $9.13 million for a total of $109.15 million. Those figures put “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” officially to become the highest grossing domestic movie at all time, taking the boxoffice record from “Let the Bullet Fly” (2010), which grossed a total of $101.37 million in mainland China.

The 135-minute film features a gang of South Korean thieves who team up with a Hong Kong crew to steal a diamond necklace from a heavily-guarded casino safe in Macau. As the cops close in, old betrayals — and misunderstandings — resurface.

Kun Liu was killed during a stunt in Bulgaria in October 2011 while performing in a rubber boat on Ognyanovo dam, just outside the capital, Sofia. He died after suffering wounds from a nearby explosion.

Asked what she thought of being dubbed ‘Box Office Poison’ after her recent films bombed at the box office, the actress said, “As an actress, as long as I do my part and work hard to showcase myself, ticket sales are not the most important.”

Based on an original idea of Chan’s, the story is a two-hander action comedy featuring a detective (Chan) who must track down an American gambler that has skipped out on his debt owed to a Macau casino syndicate. The settings include Hong Kong, Macau, Eastern Europe and mainland China.

No wonder, the world’s impression of China still focuses on the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), men’s long braids typical of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and foot binding. Those indeed are representative of China’s past, but other parts are often neglected, and the true stories of China and its people have long been misread. The varnished and sometimes demonized images simply hold the real China back from the rest of the world.

Micro News

Zhou Xun

Stills from a media set visit in Beijing for the latest celebrity micro film, “I Know You”, starring Zhou Xun and Jing Bo-Ran. Produced by Pang Ho-Cheung, Wing Shya directs from a script by Jody Luk (”Love in the Buff”). In the fantasy romance, Zhou Xun plays three roles, as a teacher, a beautician and a doctor, as well as an alien who like to eat Earth’s food. Jing Bo-Ran plays a chef. The film was shown to the media in Beijing. Wing Shya explained that the film explores the love and trust of city people and expresses the yearning for the simple life.

Tang Wei and director Kim Tae-Yong attend the Hong Kong premiere of “Late Autumn”. Hyun Bin was absent due to work commitments. Asked for a reaction to Edison Chen’s recent declaration of love for her, Tang Wei was unwilling to give a positive response. She gave thanks to all friends and fans who like her. An staff member came to her aid and dragged her off.

In more Edison weirdness: Perhaps to try and distract attention from Tang Wei fans urging him to let go of their idol, he posted a black and white image of the back of Chow Yun-Fat from “God of Gamblers” with the words, ”I am also in love with him, someone can help me to tell him?” The two posts received over 40,000 comments. Many of Tang’s fans have already responded, asking the notorious lothario to give Tang a break and leave her alone, and suggesting that he has been watching Lust/Caution and wants to make a sequel with himself as the star. (TaipeiTimes)

The ongoing feud between Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen and Chinese martial arts actor Vincent Chiu has escalated recently, with Yen suing Chiu for making false claims about his conduct on the set of Yen’s new action film “Special Identity”.

It turns out Tse feels that there has been a rash of child kidnapping and human trafficking cases in Hong Kong recently, and thought his children would actually be safer with the media tailing them all the time and getting the public interested in how his sons are.

Simon Yam and Sandra Ng are working in southern Taiwan on Zero Chou’s “Hua Yang”, a costume drama. The cast includes Ivy Chen, Jerry Yan, Michelle Chen and Cheng Yuan-Chang. A midsummer release is expected with a premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.

Ivy Chen, Cheng Yuan-Chang, Sandra Ng

Jerry Yan, Simon Yam

Jerry Yan

Simon Yam is a pirate king

An early birthday celebration for Simon Yam who turns 57 on the 19th (Sina)

The director of the film revealed that 60 popular Chinese stars, including Karen Mok, Ekin Cheng, Jaycee Chan, William So, Yang Mi, Jonathan Lee and Alan Tam will be involved in the film, as well as those in attendance at the event.

Topping the domestic box office chart on its third week on the screens, Jet Li’s latest fantasy action movie “The Sorcerer and the White Snake (Its Love)” grossed an estimated 200 million RMB (about $31.4m) and still has a strong hold on the international box office charts, remaining at seventh place.

On the sidelines of the event, an exhibition was also launched to showcase the film’s production process. The exhibition consists of the pictures of the scenes, character modeling, and victims shot by an American journalist with Time magazine in 1942.

Two unnamed Hollywood actors familiar to domestic audiences have also been cast. (Sina)

However, the figure is a little lower than that of its twin movie, “The Founding of a Republic”, which was released in 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. That film brought in 125 million yuan in the first five days of its release.

“I was too busy finding the stars,” giggled 20-year-old college student Yu Lilli. “It was like [entertainment show] Xingyun 52. Me and my friends were in competition to see who could name the most celebrities.”

Asked about the film’s powerful narrative of struggle, Yu admitted she couldn’t remember much of the actual plot.

Cathy’s father-in-law, tycoon Lee Shau-kee, was said to have been so overjoyed with the arrival of his grandson, that he decided to hand out red packets, worth HKD$10,000 (S$1,600) each, to his 1,500 employees at the end of the month.

Francis Ng and Alex Fong Chung-San are among the confirmed cast for another upcoming commemorative film about Father of the Republic, Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Tian Liang, Han Geng, Fan Wei and others are also cast. The film is scheduled for an October release. Earlier, both Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Song Hye-kyo denied playing the leads roles: Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching-ling.(21cn)

Supposedly, a love scene between Tang Wei and Donnie Yen was cut from the film. The scene was in the film’s opening 20 minutes and is marked by an abrupt edit. When questioned by reporters, Peter Chan confirmed it but said it was due to storytelling needs. The fishing scene with Tang Wei was not originally in the script but added to increase Tang Wei’s screen time. Peter Chan also noted that Tang Wei reminded him of Popeye’s girlfriend Olive Oyl (!). Years ago, he named Maggie Cheung’s character in his first film, Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye, Olive. (Xinhua), (Sina), (21cn)

Gordon Liu

Gordon Liu just completed his role in Painted Skin 2 where he plays Chen Kun’s father. He is next heading to Chengdu to film a comedy with Wilson Tong. (Sina)

Ray added, “Everyone used the same excuse to claim that it was due to a car accident. But, why would wounds from such accidents leave only a small scar on the chin? The scar appeared when Xiaoming got into an accident, and likewise for Lee Hom!”